The
St. Croix Avis Endorses John and Greg
for Re-Election
Posted
by Robert O'Connor on October 31,
2010 at 8:14 PM AST
Today,
the editorial staff of the St. Croix Avis
endorsed John de Jongh and Greg Francis for
another term as our Governor and Lt. Governor.
This comes on the heels of last week's
endorsement by the Source.
These powerfully worded endorsements of Governor de Jongh and Lt. Governor Francis by objective and professional publications is a most satisfying confirmation of the accomplishments of the de
Jongh- Francis Administration.
Read
today's endorsement below. The Source's
endorsement is posted, here.
Special Message from the Avis Editorial Staff:
We Want de Jongh-Francis 2010
October
31-November 1, 2010
Let us be clear, a little more than three years ago the St. Croix Avis was less than thrilled about the possibility of John de deJongh becoming governor of these islands. Our hesitation was rooted in our utter disgust of having yet a candidate that was born on St. Thomas who might not have our best interest at heart. Crucians had grown accustomed to being bamboozled by those who displayed their Crucian birth certificates even though we knew they were St. Thomas transplants who sole goal was to seek our votes, and we elected them. Time and time again they came here selling us on the idea that they would do right by St. Croix. God knows Crucians have heard that phony song time and time again. Please remember a vibrant St. Croix Self Government movement that was born as a result of this sense of disgust, abuse and neglect. Out of that movement, thousands of Crucians decided that they were not going to stand for it anymore. That sentiment manifested itself in how Crucians voted for governor in 2005. The Crucian candidate took St. Croix in 2005.
We were fortunate enough to gain the right to elect our governors back in 1970. For those of us in our 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, that was quite a long time ago – 39 years ago to be exact.
During these long 39 years, Cruscians have gotten lucky only two times. We got lucky with the election of our first governor, Gov. Melvin Evans and Gov. Juan “Chin” Luis. The improvements they made to St. Croix are visible today. Take for instance Evans built our highway and Luis our hospital. Even the St. Croix Educational complex although not built while Luis was still in office, he was the one who faced eye ball to eyeball with the amazing businessman Leon Hess to get part of the funds to build that school.
Now here we are in 2010, and shamefully many of us are hard pressed to point out any other significant accomplishments that other governors have left behind the past 40 years. Believe me, we have asked several smart men and women to point out visible progress but they are unable to identify progress, instead they stumble all over themselves in an attempt to do so and they still come up empty. Those who rant daily about how horrible Gov. de Jongh’s performance has been reminds us of those who take great pleasure in revealing in confutation – and our parents would simply say “das crazy people
wuk.”
We elected our first governor Forty years ago. Today, we are pleasantly surprised with the performance of Gov. John de Jongh and Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis. Here is why. As we take this stance, we are keenly aware of how the political discourse has digressed to the deepest filth the gutter has to offer, but we know the decency of our ancestors and we know the fine character that makes up the majority of Virgin Islanders.
We are also amazed and saddened by the argument against Diageo coming to St. Croix and the notion that de Jongh is foolish enough to negotiate a deal that would bring a rum company and we and our children would have to pay them for the privilege of watching their lovely factory on the south shore. How ludicrous is that. The detractors’ arguments border on insanity which would normally land them on the third floor of Juan Luis Hospital and in times passed a one way ticket to Saint Elizabeth mental institution. In regards to Diageo the facts are these:
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1.
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The largest rum maker was leaving Puerto Rico no matter what. They were free to go to Brazil, Jamaica or wherever else. Any location in the world would have welcomed them with open arms.
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2.
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De Jongh took the bottle by the handle and negotiated a deal that not only benefited us but
Diageo, we remain baffled by those who continue to ridicule the arrangement. Search the world over and you will never find a for-profit business who would suddenly agree to operate without future profits. All those who believe that please take a Vitran to the 3rd floor.
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When Diageo starts delling the popular Captain Morgan Rum made in St. Croix, based on past demand, the federal rum tax rebate will be $200 million dollars. The VI Government will get about 56% which translates to over $100 coming towards the Virgin Islands economy.
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We Virgin Islanders have not made any guarantees to pay the debt to build Diageo’s facility. The bonds to build the plant were sold on Wall Street to investors who bought them because they decided that those bonds would make them money. They concluded that Captain Morgan is a good investment and would continue to sell rum and thus make them money.
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5.
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So, If Diageo messes up, and then the bond holders are the ones who loose out, not us.
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There are many other significant reasons to endorse the de
Jongh/Francis team. We will tell you in a nutshell below.
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1.
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Our schools are finally accreted, opening the doors for students to attend universities abroad without the stigma of shame.
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2.
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Government workers have not been let go, while their counterparts in Puerto Rico and almost every state in the union whishes they could say the same.
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3.
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Every potential St. Croix resort (Robins Bay, William and Punch) has received the necessary government approval to build their projects. All they need to do is find the money. Something that administrations only gave lip service to.
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4.
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An Air National Guard will be built on St. Croix. That facility will bring all kind of Guardsmen to our shores.
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Then there is the Regional Training Center that will be built on St. Croix. There 150 FBI and other federal law enforcement agents will come to train. The door will be open to their Caribbean counterparts to participate.
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6.
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It is important to remember that the twenty something year old criminals that are roaming our streets were ten years old, or slightly older or younger when former governors neglected our schools. We are all paying the price for that sad reality. Gov. de Jongh is astute enough to realize that to continue this cores will eventually bite us in the rectum. So he has put in place the Early Childhood Education Program. This initiative will pay off dividends in the future and not create more bad boys to terrorize our communities.
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It baffles us that a former governor would endorse the other candidate even though he was a past education commissioner he proudly reigned over unaccredited public schools and teachers and parents were forced to bring toilet paper.
We still would like to see St. Croix take control of it’s own destiny but for now we remain stuck with what the 1954 Organic Act dictates.
It appears to us, that if no one heard our cries, the Almighty sent us a governor who would do right by us even though our present structure would have allowed him to treat us like the others and we would have been helpless to do a thing about it. Therefore, after much consideration the St. Croix Avis endorses Gov. John de Jongh and Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis. In our opinion things are looking much better. We know there are those who will not like this endorsement, but we firmly believe that de
Jongh/Francis have done well by us. |
